Subsea Integrity of Pipelines and Risers

9 April 2008 Aberdeen Evening Meeting

Chairman Martin Harley, Talisman

Flyer

The focus on integrity of equipment, machinery and infrastructure within the North Sea oil and gas sector has been elevated to a new level. There is far greater focus on the integrity of our ever ageing subsea infrastructure than has historically existed, and in particular  pipelines and risers. New approaches are being developed to address integrity management – both through physical inspection techniques, but by means of analytic, software and risk based approaches. These developments and the companies addressing the challenges are ensuring that the North Sea (and other locations) continues to operate effectively as assets reach, and in some cases exceed, their original design life.

This evening meeting forum by the SUT focused on some of the issues of integrity relating to pipelines and risers – from the upcoming changes in the rules which govern the way that integrity is managed, to the intricacies and experience that has been gained in the management of integrity issues relating to flexible risers and rigid pipeline systems.

Presentations

Subsea Integrity of Pipelines and Risers: Introduction

Martin Harley, Talisman

This presentation outlines the changes in rules and regulations affecting subsea integrity issues.

Flexible Pipe Integrity Monitoring including Case Studies

Mark Murray and Liam Macintyre, MCS

Liam and Mark discuss the 'hot topics' within flexible pipe integrity management at this moment, giving reference to inspection and testing techniques and flexible pipe life extensions. Case studies are given and discussed to reaffirm the importance of implementation of an integrity management strategy which incorporates industry lessons learned.

Corrosion Inhibition of Pipelines

Dr Jonathan Marsh, IONIK

Real Time Lateral Buckling Monitoring

Donald Thomson, Insensys

Pipeline modelling used in the designs for subsea pipeline for deep water and HPHT developments often need to balance sometimes conflicting requirements. Validation of the models and actual information on fatigue life are important considerations as more pipelines are designed for dynamic situations. This presentation describes a system to monitor pipeline buckle sections real time, and provide the data required to validate the design models.